Setting another red pepper on the cool, damp cutting board, Ga Eul sliced it into tiny pieces while the pot of porridge beside her bubbled up. She turned down the heat a bit and scraped the pepper pieces into the soupy mixture. Reaching for another vegetable, she had just broken the skin of it with the edge of her knife when the sound of the front door thudding open startled her.

She moved too quickly. The point of the knife jerked up and grazed the skin of her palm, cutting into it just enough to make it bleed.

"Yi Jeong Sunbae! Ah, you scared me!" Ga Eul clutched at her chest. Then, noting his unpleasant expression, she asked, "Are you okay? Did something else happen? I got hungry, so I was just cooking us some—"

"Ga Eul-yang! Didn't I tell you not to leave the apartment?!"

Ga Eul dropped the hand that had been twisting her blouse. The knife clattered onto the counter.

"But I...How—"

"Did he do that?" Yi Jeong demanded, marching over to her and picking up her hand to examine it. A small trickle of blood stained his fingers. "Well? Did he?!"

"He...Who...I just cut myself with the knife. I-it was an accident."

Yi Jeong only gripped her wrist tighter and whipped out an embroidered handkerchief from his pocket. Wrapping it twice around her palm, he knotted it.

"We have napkins," Ga Eul protested softly.

Ignoring her, Yi Jeong applied pressure to her hand and shifted his eyes back up to meet hers, "When I tell you not to do something, I mean it. Didn't you learn anything from watching Jan Di suffer? I'm trying to protect you as best as I can, but I can't do that if you refuse to listen to me."

"Sunbae, what are you saying? I just went to the grocery store. There weren't any reporters there, I swear. No one came up to me."

Yi Jeong laughed—a hollow, maniacal laugh. Dirt smudges on the cuffs of his dress shirt showed as he gestured his arms wildly, and she wondered where he had been.

"Oh, this is just great. You think a reporter is going to come waltzing up to you and ask how your day is going?"

"Well I...I thought they would be trying to get an interview or something."

"Ga Eul-yang...If you don't learn anything else, you need to learn this, and you need to learn it now. What you say doesn't matter half as much as what you do—or what people think you did. A photographer isn't going to announce his presence for you to go running off to safety. Now, are you telling me that no one recognized you at the store?"

"I didn't—"

"Don't lie to me!"

"I'm not! I'm not! I just...I wouldn't have bothered you with it."

"That bastard you used to date, what did he want?"

Ga Eul's eyes went wide. She jerked her hand back.

"How did you know about that?"

"First answer the question. I know he approached you outside the store. What did he say?"

Forcing her back against the counter, Yi Jeong leaned his body into hers, and she distractedly remembered the time he had seduced her in his bedroom in Sweden. Which seemed more scandalous in her recollection of it than it actually had been.

Right.

Scandal.

"N-nothing." Ga Eul avoided his gaze, her cheeks burning as she remembered some of Su Pyo's insinuations. "He was just...being a jerk...so I told him to leave me alone."

She rubbed the loose fabric of his dress shirt between her thumb and forefinger, finding some comfort in his nearness. Honestly, she had been quite rattled earlier, and now she was on the verge of tears again.

"You slapped him hard enough. He must have said something!"

Yi Jeong rage seemed almost palpable, the flip side of his usually calm and collected charm.

"Yes, but how did you—"

"What did he say?! Dammit, Ga Eul-yang!" Yi Jeong slammed his fist down on the counter. When she jumped, he backed away from her a bit and ran his fingers through his hair. "This is exactly the sort of bullshit I was trying to avoid!"

Despite knowing his anger wasn't directed at her, Ga Eul trembled at his tone.

"H-he was just insulting me. He said that I...I mean he accused me of going after you for your money. And, um, seducing you basically...He even said I dumped him."

"Yeah, well, you're not the only person he said that to."

"What?"

Pulling his phone out, he held it up to her.

"Read it," he commanded.

Too soon, Ga Eul faced another glaring phone screen featuring a condemning picture of herself. This time, the picture was all too public. There she was, backed up against a car with Su Pyo's face lowered to hers. Further down, another photo captured her vindictive palm hitting his face.

Will There be Trouble in Paradise?: Chu Ga Eul's Ex-Lover Park Su Pyo Tells All

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Tattle, Park Su Pyo, manager of Club Opera and former boyfriend of So Yi Jeong's surprise fiancee, opened up about his relationship with Chu Ga Eul and his thoughts on her upcoming marriage to one of Korea's (until now) most A-list bachelors.

Q: You dated Miss Ga Eul a few years back, is that correct?

A: Yes. When I met her, she worked at a porridge shop. I was a frequent customer. She seemed like such a nice girl. So innocent.

Q: And you asked her out there?

A: We had the same taste in music. She liked the band I was listening to. We, uh, started talking, and one thing led to another.

Q: As it often does. Tell me, how long did the two of you go out?

A: Only about two months. She stopped responding to my phone calls and messages. At first I thought she was feeling guilty after her friend's boyfriend picked a fight with me on our double date. But then one day she shows up at my club with the guy she's engaged to now—

Q: Omo, they've been together that long?!

A: To be honest, I was shocked to find out they still were together.

Q: What do you mean?

A: I'll tell you something. When she worked at the shop, that girl would flirt with any guy in a suit. I watched her. Until one day she approached me. I liked to think I was cool back then, you know. I thought I'd be different. I guess we all like to think that.

Q: So you're saying she played you?

A: Played me? That night she showed up at the club with So Yi Jeong, well, let's just say she wasn't dressed like an innocent schoolgirl. Had me fooled too. I guess she knew I was a nice guy because on all our dates, she wore blouses buttoned up to here. Sweaters, tights—you couldn't see anything if you wanted to. When she walked into the club, I hardly recognized her. She looked like one of those escorts businessmen brought in a lot. Her dress certainly didn't leave anything to the imagination. I wanted to talk to her, but she completely ignored me. Acted like she'd never even seen me before. Certainly had him wrapped around her finger, though. Well, on to her next conquest.

Q: The two of you were...intimate?

A: [laughter] I thought I was her first. She always acted so shy. But let's just say I can understand how a certain ladies' man fell for her.

Q: Mmm, I see. And what do you think of their engagement?

A: I think she got what she wanted. Always after class, that girl. I'll say that for her. I told you she liked to flirt with the guys in suits. No doubt she's already planning out how to best enjoy her newly acquired wealth.

Q: Other news sources are already calling her "Cinderella." Do you think that's an accurate description?

A: Ah, Cinderella...Well, if they want to call it love, sure. But the only person that **** has ever been in love with is herself.

"I don't understand...Two months, my foot," Ga Eul muttered. "He only took me on two dates in that time. Honestly, where does he get the nerve to do something like this? I was pretty sure he'd have forgotten me by now. Escorts? Intimate?! Are they even allowed to ask that?!"

"My guess is, someone paid him to do that interview. Unfortunately, you did go out with him, and I'm sure there are witnesses from that night at the club to corroborate his story."

"But that was so long ago!"

"Any skeletons they can bring up from your closet they will. Which is why you need to listen to me when I tell you to do something. Or not do something, for that matter. What were you even thinking? How could you be so...so...so stupid?!"

"How was I supposed to know he'd be there?! It's not like I plan for these things to happen!" Oh, great. Now she'd started crying.

"First you lied to me about the whole Madeleine incident, and now you were going to lie to me about this. You weren't going to tell me, were you? Oh, just let Yi Jeong think nothing happened, and it will all turn out okay."

"I don't know! I don't know, okay?!" Ga Eul couldn't control her sobs now. Somehow she managed to choke out, "I just wanted to make you dinner."

"Dinner?! That's what' s important here?!" Reaching over, he switched the knob on the stove off, and the pot of porridge immediately began to simmer down.

"Sunbae, don't! It has to boil some more!"

"Oh, yeah, well make your damn porridge!" Yi Jeong jerked at the knot of his necktie. "I've got to go clean this other mess up." With that, he stalked off to his bedroom and slammed the door, leaving her to sink down onto the kitchen floor alone and replay Su Pyo's careless insinuations over in her mind.

She knew he was really mad at Su Pyo, not her, but she hated that he felt like he couldn't trust her. What type of dummy was she, sneaking out like that? She should have just called him to see when he would be coming back.

Or ordered takeout.

She didn't know how long she sat huddled in the corner by the stove, tears blurring her vision, until a door creaked open and Yi Jeong reappeared in her line of sight.

Crossing over to her, he silently knelt down and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

Clearing his throat, he said, "I, um...I didn't mean to yell at you like that…I just...I want to punch so many people in the face right now, and I wish...I wish you would be more careful. Okay?"

Ga Eul nodded, not quite trusting herself to speak for fear she would start sobbing again.

"Come here," Yi Jeong whispered, gathering her in his arms. Settling into his lap, she buried her face into his shoulder. "Shh. It's okay. We'll figure this out," he reassured her as he rubbed her back. Letting herself sink into his warmth, Ga Eul closed her eyes and tried to block out her deepest fears that this wouldn't last, that they wouldn't get their fairy tale ending after all.

"You know Jan Di had to spend a whole day with the witch today?" he continued in the same soothing tone. "The guys all made bets on who would kill whom the quickest."

Ga Eul smiled and reopened her eyes. A stray piece of red pepper had landed on the floor.

"Obviously, my bet went to Jan Di killing the witch. I think commoners must be impossible to kill. You're as stubborn as weeds."

"Yah," Ga Eul protested softly. "I don't want to be compared to weeds. Sunbae, can't you pick a nice flower, like a rose or a daffodil?"

"Mmm, how about witch hazel? It blooms in winter. And you've bewitched me."

"That's too much, Sunbae."

"What? Girls like for guys to say stuff like that. Anyway, it's making you stop crying."

"I know. I know you hate it when girls cry."

"No. I hate it when you cry. I hate seeing you cry and not being able to fix it. Or kick whoever did that to you straight in the balls."

"Well, maybe you should have tried that tactic with Su Pyo the first time, and then he couldn't have possibly said any of those horribly untrue things."

"Hmm. Maybe not but…Look, just for the record, my motivations for going to that club with you weren't entirely righteous and vindictive."

"Oh?"

"No. I, um...I wanted to see how sexy you'd look in that dress."

"You're such a bad guy, Sunbae."

"And you, apparently, are a gold digger. At least we're evenly matched, wouldn't you say?" He grinned, and she couldn't help but laugh and accept the gentle kiss he pressed to her lips.